I'm really pleased to share my live conversation with Chris Fussell, former Navy SEAL and Chief of Staff to General Stan McChrystal. who was himself in charge of Special Operations during the Iraq War. Chris is now the President of the McChrystal Group and spoke onstage at Responsive Conference 2016. Chris is the first person I look to about how we can respond to crisis and we spent this webinar discussing how people around the world can (and should) organize amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic. I h...
Apr 02, 2020•55 min
Welcome back to the Robin Zander Show, and an entirely different world. The Coronavirus Pandemic has the entire world in an uproar. In today's podcast, I have a conversation with David Hanrahan, CHRO of Eventbrite, about taking a large company entirely remote in under 2 weeks, parenting tactics when so many of us are working from home, changes to the events business, and maintaining mental health. We keep our conversation short and tactical sharing specific tools and practices that can help you ...
Mar 23, 2020•35 min
Welcome back to the show! I'm your host, Robin Zander. I meet with a lot of people exploring the edges of both personal and professional performance, but rarely find folks combining these disciplines skillfully within large organizations. The Trium Group is an exception. In this interview, I sit down with Darren Gold, managing partner of The Trium Group, to discuss peak performance, his very unusual and challenged background, and his new book "Master Your Code." Enjoy!...
Feb 03, 2020•49 min
A few weeks ago I sat down with Greg Russel, VP of Talent at Snapdocs to talk about talent development. The conversation ended up covering a great deal more including company culture, special needs, human development, and my own eclectic background. I hope you enjoy!
Jan 23, 2020•33 min
This fall I spent 3.5 weeks traveling with my mother in Ghana, Africa. The relationship between me and my mom is complicated. She frequently drives me crazy, so traveling in close quarters for several weeks in a foreign country was a bold test for our rel
Dec 29, 2019•9 min
A few weeks ago in NYC, I led a strategy workshop for an exclusive group of CEOs and founders who are building companies designed to thrive in the Future of Work. Every organization is tasked with issues that seem insurmountable. Often, the process to accomplishing a huge goal can be so overwhelming that we never get started. Behavior change can help make seemingly impossible goals feel smaller and more attainable. What we want to accomplish is not going to happen in a single day. Instead, break...
Jul 25, 2019•8 min
Recently while in NYC, I led a strategy workshop for an exclusive group of CEOs and founders who are building companies designed to thrive in the modern world. Here, we discuss how to have more authenticity in our sales. Respecting others' time and double checking that they are still available and willing to speak gives you initial buy in to the conversation. You are much more likely to have a connection that will result in the long-term outcome you desire if you put the other person's needs at ...
Jul 25, 2019•6 min
My guest today is the President of Pepsi Global Foods, Simon Lowden. Simon has been the driving force over the last 10 years at turning Pepsi into a forward-thinking and self-iterating company. He is incredibly thoughtful when it comes to marketing and Responsive organizations, and in today’s conversation, we dive deep into some of the philosophies that he has implemented over the span of his career. He offers tactical advice on how to work well with teams and build a future focused organization...
Jul 18, 2019•34 min
A few weeks ago, I sat down with Michael Roderick to discuss brand strategy and his work around creating “referrable brands.” This conversation covers a wide range of topics related to brand strategy, including his AIM model which stands for Accessibility, Influence, and Memory. We apply this framework to a variety of business examples, including my own efforts at Zander Media. I hope you enjoy! Podcast Notes: 3:30 Michael’s background Robin refers to: Made To Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath I...
Jun 03, 2019•52 min
This is a talk that Robin Zander gave at the HR Transform conference in Las Vegas to the Heads of HR of some of the fastest growing tech companies you have definitely heard of. The context for his talk was storytelling. Robin pulls on his experience at Robin’s Cafe and Responsive Conference to help others tell their story. In today’s world, it’s not enough to just have a great company culture - you have to share that story with the world. The aspects that make your organization unique create inc...
May 02, 2019•14 min
In this episode, my friend, Daniel Stillman, interviews me for his podcast, The Conversation Factory . We discuss how to ask better questions, the value of loving, non-judgemental questions, and my story. I hope you enjoy today’s podcast as Daniel flips the script and interviews me on the art of asking questions. Line Notes 1:15 How Robin describes himself 5:15 Responsive Org Mentions: Responsive.org DonorsChoose.org 10:00 How do you define learning? 14:30 Asking loving questions 17:45 Practice ...
May 01, 2019•52 min
Perfectionism can limit your creative fuels. The fear of failure can be crippling, and the pressure to execute consistently can paralyze you from trying at all. To help combat this, try making a list of 10 ways you can do any specific thing unsuccessfully. The idea is to find ways to do something incorrectly, on purpose, in order to get your ideas flowing and remove your self-judgment. You are intentionally making a list of rough drafts, instead of stressing about any of those thoughts being per...
Apr 12, 2019•7 min
We all have a myriad of beliefs, and it is useful first to recognize your beliefs. But it is also possible to amplify them, and use your beliefs as fuel to create more of what you want. In this exercise, we looked for the earliest memories of a specific belief, and then turned the belief into a statement of purpose. This process took an abstract memory and created an action that feels tangible and possible. -- This was recorded live at a Financial Freedom workshop in the San Francisco Bay Area. ...
Apr 12, 2019•4 min
We are each in control of our own reality. If you feel that making money by selling your art or your work is impossible, go find other people whose work you admire that are successful. If someone else has done it, you can do it too. Find roll models that have something in common with you to help you believe in your own abilities. -- This was recorded live at a Financial Freedom workshop in the San Francisco Bay Area. This, and other workshops, are put on by Motion, which offers online and in-per...
Apr 12, 2019•6 min
If you want to save more money, adopting principles of behavior change will be important. What areas of your daily life can you cut back on spending? It's important to be thoughtful on what you spend money on in conjunction with how you want to live. That being said, if something in an unnecessary expense but brings you immense joy, don't cut it out. Whether that's a $5 latte or traveling with family, don't starve yourself of the things that make you happy. Look for other areas that could be cut...
Apr 12, 2019•4 min
This is the story of how I came to own Robin's Cafe in the course of 3 weeks with no initial intention or experience in purchasing a coffeeshop. The mental and emotional growth I gained through that experience was instrumental. From that experience, I also found that when we show up humbly and ask for help, people are extremely receptive. People who love you will want to see you succeed. I was able to raise $40,000 to open the cafe, ran it for 2.5 years, and sold it for $140,000. I left satisfie...
Apr 12, 2019•13 min
50 ways to 50k is a game you can play to come up with ways to make extra money each month. The first step is to choose an amount of money that feels really achievable for you to make additionally to your normal income each month. The second step is to brainstorm 15 ways to make that amount of money for next month. The third step is to decipher whether each job you came up with will make money continuously or just one time. When thinking through job options, look through your skillset and your ra...
Apr 12, 2019•14 min
One of the pieces around money that we don't clarify enough is establishing your "why". The reason you want something can be highly motivating, and the absence of a clear "why" can limit you from taking direct action. Be specific with how much more money you want, why it is important to you, and what it is for. Defining that can be a driving force to achieving your financial goals. -- This was recorded live at a Financial Freedom workshop in the San Francisco Bay Area. This, and other workshops,...
Apr 12, 2019•9 min
I recently sat down to chat with Lindsay McGregor in New York City. Lindsay is the co-author of The New York Time's best selling book "Primed to Perform" and also spoke onstage at Responsive 2018. She and her husband co-founded the company, VegaFactor, which works with fortune 500 companies, fast growing start-ups, and a wide variety of other organizations to improve performance. In this interview, we discuss her life, her work, and her personal journey to peak performance.
Apr 05, 2019•41 min
I took a 36 hour trip to New York City recently, and among other meetings, I had the pleasure of 30 minutes on camera with Cindy Gordon, Head of People at Policygenius. Cindy spoke at Responsive Conference 2018, and Policygenius has been heralded as one of Inc’s Great Places to Work. We discuss her work and the tactics Cindy applies to build a great company. Learn more: https://www.policygenius.com/...
Apr 04, 2019•18 min
Friendship isn't something that most people do intentionally. Ordinarily, we "fall" into and out of relationships and friendships, without thinking through what we want or why we are there. In this video, I tell the story of how I became friends with Michelle Love, my co-founder at Motion (www.wantmotion.com). Michelle brought a level of clarity and specificity to what our friendship would look like that could help with creating many types of different relationships. To make any strong connectio...
Feb 21, 2019•2 min
One day, after my first year of college, I came home and proposed to my parents that we have a real relationship. I had always been grateful to have them, but I had never really made the choice actively to have a relationship with them. I promised to always be loving, speak my truth, and not hide pieces of myself from them, and I invited my parents to do the same with me. It made a huge difference to show up like that for each other, not because we are obligated to as family, but because we were...
Feb 21, 2019•3 min
Our most trusted and important institutions – in business, healthcare, government, philanthropy, and beyond – are struggling. They're confronted with the fact that the scale and bureaucracy that once made them strong are liabilities in an era of constant change. Welcome back to another episode of the Robin Zander Show! I'm thrilled to share today's interview with Aaron Dignan, author of the new book "Brave New Work," as well as founding member of Responsive Org. In today's interview, Aaron and I...
Feb 17, 2019•45 min
My father's ability to speak to different audiences in a language that was familiar to them has always stuck with me all of my life. Individually, we all have the ability to chose how we relate to the people we are with. Prioritize connecting with others. Demonstrating that desire to meet people where they are goes such a long way.
Feb 14, 2019•3 min
Running your own business isn't about throwing around stacks of $100 dollar bills. It is about taking ultimate responsibility, doing the work necessary, and making hard decisions. When you run your own business or work for yourself there an essential element that we don't talk enough about. Freedom. It gives you the freedom to set your own hours, to call the shots, and to be your own boss. It gives you the ability to live the life you want and provide for the people you love. But that also comes...
Feb 14, 2019•3 min
Steve Pressfield coined to term "Resistance" in his incredible book "The Way of Art". When it comes to any job, you have to do the work. If you are putting on events, you have to sell tickets. If you are writing a book, you have to sit down and write. Everything else, in many ways, is just busy work. Whatever your end goal is, do what is actually needed to accomplish it. We often do everything but what we need to do - and that is resistance. It is a hesitancy to own your truth. Avoid resistance ...
Feb 14, 2019•3 min
We are all so busy, distracted, and distract-able. We are surrounded by social media and news pulling us in a million different directions. The solution to that is very simple: identify the one thing that you need to do right now to move forward whatever you are trying to accomplish, and do that one thing. This is true in relationships, building a business, and even fitness. We get caught up in the little things and the judgment of not thinking we are doing enough, when all we really need to do ...
Feb 14, 2019•3 min
One of my earliest memories at 8 years old, is trying to keep up with my father as he ran his very first marathon. I was heartbroken that I could only make it about 200 yards compared to his 26.2. All of my life, my identity has really been tied to my physical exploration. I have tried many different domains of movement very intensely - gymnastics, juggling, fencing, ballet, surfing - and found that even if these forms are all very different, they all have something in common. The excitement of ...
Feb 14, 2019•5 min
If you want to change a behavior long term, make sure you celebrate the small victories. Reward yourself for your success - no matter how tiny or ridiculous - and you will be more likely to repeat that action again in the future. Even if it feels silly to do, the first step to make a new habit stick, is to celebrate yourself bigger.
Feb 14, 2019•2 min
There are things for each of us that we want to improve, behaviors that we want to change. The first and most important step is to start small. Whatever new habit you want to establish is, make it as small as possible (and then smaller still). BJ Fogg, PhD, uses the example of flossing. If you'd like to begin flossing your teeth, set the new goal to be flossing a *single* tooth. And then, even though it seems silly, celebrate the success of flossing that one tooth. The smaller you make the initi...
Feb 13, 2019•2 min
